Midnight Munchies @ Maxwell
Why we're building a content machine on top of our clubs
Today we launched Midnight Munchies -- our first digital content series -- follow along as we cook drunk munchies at Maxwell parties with up and coming chefs & well known foodies, celebs and influencers!
Why are we producing our own content now? Two reasons . . .
Top Of Funnel Audience Building Is Invaluable
In the process of building Maxwell we realized the top of funnel problem of membership recruitment and general awareness is way harder than most people appreciate. It may seem simple — throw enough parties, get enough people in the space, and membership will take care of itself — and to some extent that is true — engaging with the product in the space certainly works. (Side note, if you’re interested . . .)
But not as fast as you think it would if what you are trying to build, like we are, is SUPER specific. We’re not like any other private club and explaining what we’re doing requires a learning curve, one that many people don’t stick around long enough to learn. And we want members who want to commit to contributing to build the community, and that means even if they are a good fit personally, they might not be circumstantially — perhaps they just had a kid, live in deep Brooklyn, just raised money for a startup, etc. and can’t make that commitment now.
We’ve committed to not making the *utility* pitch and keeping a super high bar, but a high bar means that focusing on volume and awareness becomes all the more important.
People also don’t realize how long it takes for hospitality brands to achieve mindshare. I’m shocked how often I hear someone tell me about a hotspot that opened recently only for me to tell them it has been around for 4-5 years.
If your overlapping venn diagrams of friend groups look something like tech, downtown, jewish & expat you might think we’re more well known than we are, but we learned that those demographics are VERY specific and that if you aren’t in those demos you might not know we exist, and relying on word of mouth isn’t scalable.
Built If Bought
The second reason is that over our first two years running Maxwell we had a ton of false starts with famous magazines, media, etc. that wanted to partner with Maxwell. The idea was they’d bring a super cool crowd and because of their brand they could unlock sponsor dollars to pay for cool events. Members could attend a super curated, paid for event and Maxwell would get coverage and money. Win win win.
But the not-so-secret truth about these media properties is none of them have any money, and every event that was pitched to us was always what is referred to in the industry as “built if bought” — i.e. the event would only go off if they found a sponsor to pay the bill.
Not one of these ever got off the ground.
Why wouldn’t we just throw these events and parties and close the sponsors ourselves? Well with our 6k Instagram followers at the time (now up to 21k!) we weren’t exactly an attractive media partner, and that was a necessary part of the equation — distribution to eyeballs OUTSIDE of those in the room for the event is as important to these brand sponsors as the people inside the room.
So we asked ourselves — what if WE created the media part of the equation. It would allow us to sell into sponsors ourselves and fund unique and cool experiences at Maxwell, free from all dependencies on budget conscious media properties.
So we started brainstorming on exactly how we’d do this by asking ourselves . . .
What Is Uniquely Maxwell?
In a sea full of copycat content what could we do at Maxwell that no other spot could do? What was irreverent and didn't take ourselves too seriously, participatory but still classy and fun?
We never wanted any series we did to be overtly about Maxwell itself — THIS blog, Cafe Society, is our propaganda.
No, our digital content needed to be “soft power” — no mention of Maxwell or our mission, just the subtle message of “this is the cool shit that goes on here.”
Midnight Munchies emerged as the obvious candidate.
There is something about late night munchies that is just so on-brand. Perhaps it’s the quest you sometimes have to go on to satisfy a late night urge and the camaraderie that entails. Or it’s the ham-fisted way you might be stumbling through making a basic dish while you are inebriated. Or maybe it’s the hanging out in the kitchen, recapping the night, that speaks to the intimacy we’re trying to build at Maxwell.
But the idea of hosting a late night cooking talk show during a party is a perfect fit for our brand.
No one has kitchens like Maxwell. No one has a house party vibe. No one has a venue that can be as participatory, bringing the audience into the show, as we do.
We decided to give it an “in the party” vibe, similar to how Mad Money is on the NYSE floor and you see things going on in the background, but instead of the stock exchange it’s a house party.
And we saw the success of formats like Chicken Shop Date and Hot Ones and felt that there was an opportunity to do something similar — irreverent down to earth but personal and intimate content.
Our first video is just a couple minutes — and the current plan is to release Midnight Munchies in two forms — short form fun 2 minute reels and at some point longer 10-15 minute content that includes a more substantive, but still irreverent and fun, interview.
If you have an idea of someone who belongs on the show, hit us up, we’d love to hear from you!
Hope to see you at the next Midnight Munchies, and as always if you’re interested in membership . . .
David, Kyle, Joelle
